#558 


111 


BENEFICIARY 


MINISTERIAL  EDUCATION; 

THB   8TJB8TANOB   OF  A.  RBPORT  ADOPTED   BT  T3B 

GENERAL    ASSEMBLY 


PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 


CONFEDERATE   STATES  OF   AMERICA, 

AT    ITS    gESSIONi  IB 

CHARLOTTE,     N.     C, 
la  May,    1864. 

PREPARED       BT       T  B:  B 

&EV.  JOSEPH  R.  WILSON,  D.  D.,  AUOUSTA,  OA,, 

ind  Published  by  Order  of  the  Assembly. 


RICHMOND: 

PRESBYTERIAN    COMMITTEE   OF   PUBLICATION, 

1864. 


Na  6L 


BENEFICIARY 
MINISTERIAL    EDUCATION. 


There  never  has  been  a  time,  in  the  history  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church,  when  there  was  serious  difference  of  opinion 
touching  the  necessity  of  an  educated  Ministry.  From  the 
•earliest  period  of  her  existence,  she  has,  by  every  form  of 
official  action  possible  to  such  a. testimony,  uttered  a  distinct  ■ 
And  emphatic  voice  in  behalf  of  the  highest  standard  ©f  men- 
tal quali  notion  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  chosen  to 
.preach  the  Gospel  from  her  saered  desks.  Whilst,  indeed,  no 
Church  has  more  strenuously  insisted  upon  the  unspeakable 
importance  of  healthy  and  vigorous  piet:  in  the  pulpit ;  yet 
none  has  been  .more  determined  to  possess  a  pulpit  character- 
ised by  something  more  and  better  than  the  impatient  aead, 
the  unguarded  Enthusiasm,  and  the  heated  impulses,  in  which 
mere  vehemence  of  religious  emotions  is  so  apt,  when  left  to 
itself,  to  waste  its  fires; — a  pulpit  where  saintly  ardor  of  soul 
shall  be  tempered  and  directed  by  discipline  of  mind,  breadth 
of  knowledge  and  accuracy  of  scholarship. 

Regarding,  therefore,  the  conclusions  of  the  Church  with 
reference  to  this  vital  point,  as  sound  and  irreversible,  our  at- 
tention is  now  fixed  upon  another  branch  ef  the  subject  of 
Ministerial  training,  to  which  the  wisdom  of  our  denomina- 
tion has  been  long  directed,  but  where  the  decision*  of  that 
wisdom  has  not  appeared  so  satisfactory  to  all  good  men.  #We 
are  to  consider,  in  some  of  its  respects,  the  great  question  of 
*  beneficiary  education  ;  '  and  particularly,  whether  that  schemd* 
of  stipendiary  schooling,  with  whose  details  o\ir  connection 
with  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  former  United  States 
has  rendered  us  familiar,  is  the  best  one  for  us,  in  our  new 
condition  as  a  separate  ecclesiastical  organization,  to  continue.  " 
It  will  be  recollected  that  the  General  Assembly  which  coa- 
2 


*PnDD  n%n 


4  MINISTERIAL    EDUCATION* 

vened  (December,  18G1,)  in  the  city  of  Augusta,  unanimous- 
ly passed  a  serie3  of  resolutions,  "solemnly  re-affirming  the 
deliverances  made  in  our  former  connection,  concerning  the 
responsibility  that  rests  on  the  Church  to  secure  and  main- 
tain for  itself  a  pious,  gifted,  and  learned  Ministry:  and  in 
conformity  with  this  re-affirmation,  appointed  "  an  Executive 
Committee  to  aid  Candidates  for  the  Gospel.  Ministry*  who 
tnay  need  assistance/'  chose  a  "  Secretary  of  Education,"  and 
did  all  other  things  that  we  required  to  set  in  motion  a  sys- 
tem whose  operation  migbt  impart  efficiency  to  this  arm  of 
the  Church's  usefulness.  There  is  now  raised,  not  simply  the 
question :  shall  the  scheme  of  beneficiary  education,  so  long 
in  prosperous  use  by  the  Old  Assembly,  and  so  much  in  favor 
throughout  the  entire  country,  be  set  aside  for  a  new  and  alto- 
gether different  plan  ?  But.  in  addition,  the  enquiry  is  stated  : 
shall  the  solemn  action  of  oar  own  initiative  Assembly  which 
formally  contained  a  substantial  adoption  of  this  tried  scheme, 
be,  before  three  years  have  elapsed,  and,  time  has  been  allowed 
to  test  its  value  under  changed  conditions — shall  this,  too,  be 
swept  away  for  the  inauguration  of  some  policy  wholly  foreign 
and  novel  ?  The  fact  that  onr  first  Executive  Committee  of 
Education  was  suddenly  arrested  in  their  word  by  the  paraly- 
sis of  war,  and  compelled  even'  to  disband,  almost  at  the  be- 
ginning of  their  career;  and  the  additional  fact  that  the  new 
Committee  appointed  in  their  stead  have  been  unable,  owing 
to  continuance  of  the  same  causes  which  operated  at  the  out- 
set, to  much  more  than  maintain  a  nominal  existence ; — this 
state  of  facts,  throwing  us  back  to  the  point  whence  the  ori- 
ginal Assembly  started,  would  appear  to  offer  an  opportunity 
for  reviewing  the  whole  subject,  as  auspicious  as  if  nothing 
whatever  had  been  done.  But  still,  that  Assembly  did  act ; 
and  its  action  was,  'no  doubt,  as  maturely  considered  by  that 
body  as  it  could  have  been,  had  it  been  assured  beforehand 
that  the  fairest  and  fullest  play  would  have  been  secured  to 
it  proposed  policy  by  every  favoring  circumstance  of  peace.* 
It  ought;  therefore,  to  be  only  under  the  stress  of  solemn 
convictions  of  duty  whose  path  is  illuminated  by  light  which 
our  brightest  comet  did  not  possess  in  1861,  that  its  successor 
in  1864  should  undertake  to  reverse  its  decisions  in  a  matter 
so  grave  and  vital,  or  even  suggest  a  material  alteration  in  the 

t>  *  The  following  [Art  V  of  the  Constitution  of  the  Education  Commit- 
tee organized  at  Augusta,)  indicates  the  principal  basis  of  the  plan:  "It 
shall  be  the  duty  of  this  Committee  to  dispense  aid,  in  prosecuting  their 
education,  to  such  Candidates  for  the  Gospel  Ministry  as  may  be  recom- 
mended to  them  by  the  Presbyteries  It  shall  hold  and  disburse  all  funds 
put  into  its  hands  for  this  purpose.  It  shall  also  have  n  general  oversight 
of  the  diligence  and  deportment  of  those  who  are  aided  by  It." 


MUflSTEMAL    EDUCATION,  .         5 

great  law  of  tho  Church  touching  this  matter.  The  Church 
should  be  slow  to  alter  where  alteration  is  not  demanded  by 
the  detection  of  serious  error,  or  the  discovery  of  some  hith- 
erto unsuspected  .truth.     In  permanency  reposes  strength. 

If\s  believed,  however,  that  thej  who  most  desire  to  sefi 
the  whole  field  of  beneficiary  education  again  explored,  have 
difficulties  to  examine  and  to  remove  that  lie  back  of  evor$' 
possihjo  scheme.  These  d  fficulties  attach  toc^tain  injurious 
consequences  involved  in  tlu;  policy  which  exhibits  its  essen- 
tial character  in  the  use  of  the  word  "  beneficiary.1*  It  is 
thought  by  many  that  there  should  be  no  ecclesiastical  rccog? 
nition  of  wdfgaiey  in  Candidates  for  the  Ministry ;  and  that 
(the  Church  has  no  authority  to  bestow  benefits,  out  of  her  mea- 
gre treasury,  upon  aspirants  to  the  sacred  office  who  aro  too 
poor  to  help  themselves.  They  would,  therefore,  disencum- 
ber the  Church  altogether  from  the  charge  of  their  mainten- 
ance, a^d  tli row  this  burden  where  (say  they)  it  honestly 
belongs,  i.e.  upon,  the  students,  themselves ;  a  measure  which 
would  necessarily  revolutionize  the  whole  subject  of  Ministe- 
rial  education  aa  it  has  been  heretofore  understood. 

The  confusion  of  thought  which  has  resulted  from  tho  use 
of  the  word  "beneficiary/3  as  applied  "to  qualify  the  educa- 
tion we  are  considering,  and  many  of  the  difficulties  which 
serve  to  obstruct  the  Church's  path  of  duty  in  the  .premises, 
would  be  removed  if  a  clear  statement  of  her  relation  to  the 
Candidate  could  be  authoritatively  made  by  the  General  As- 
sembly. It  U  expressed  with  sufficient  distinctness  in  tho 
following  proposition:  a  proposition  that,  we  feel  confident, 
indicates  the  real  belief  of  the  great  body  of  God's  people 
touching  this  point.  It  is  this:  Ecery  Candidate  for  the  Gos- 
pel Ministry  docs,  in' sundering  the  ties  which  connected  him  with 
secular  avoeati  ns,  so  far  dedicate  himself  to  the  service  of  God 
intlie  Chinch,  as  to  entitle  him  to  expect  at  hei  hands  the  education 
ivhtch  he  may  yet  need  for  that  service ;  and  he  is,  therefor!)  n:t 
to  be  regarded  by  the  Church  or  by  himself,  in  the  light  of  an  ob- 
ject of  charily,  but  as  a  laborer  already  occupyin  /  a  place  in  the 
field  of  Ministerial  duty.  This  statement  it  is  not  proposed  to 
elaborate  at  any  length,  Whan  once  announced  it  immedi- 
ately commends  its  self-evidencing  truth  to  every  thinker.  It 
sets  aside,  ..1  together,  the  common  notion,  that  a  reception  of 
pecuniary  aid  by  the  Candidate,  when  such  aid  is  administered' 
by  the  authority  of  the  Church,  places  the  recipient  in  the  at- 
titude of  beggary  ^nd  the  bestGwer  in  the  attitude  of  bene- 
facture;  a  notion  cruelly  unjust  to  the  Candidate,  dishonoring 
to  the  Church  herself,  and  opposed  to  every  intelligent  idea  of 
the  Ministerial  work,  which,  from   the  first  step  of  incipient 


*T5  <~7   o     «•%     i     r> 


6  MINISTERIAL    EDUCATION;  • 

Candidacy  to  the  last  steps  of  fhe  preacher'*  finished  labors, 
righteously  demands  for  the  spiritual  workman  his  hire:  and 
this,  too,  by  the  express  ordinance  of  God.  ^he  association 
of  charity,  therefore,  with  the  subject  of  beneficiary  education, 
is  uncalled  for,  and  is  plainly  injurious  to  tike  honor  of  yiat , 
blessed  Master  who  will  have  no  man  whom  He  calls  into*  the 
immediate  service  of  the  Church,  and  thus  of  JJimscif,  be 
came  the  bearer  of  His  own  charges,  And,  so  prevalent  and 
so  vicious  is  tht  habit  of  associating  these  two  things  together 
— so  wide-spread  is  the  unhappy  assumption  that  the  Church, 
in  the  relations  she  sustains  to  her  Candidates  [or  the  Minis* 
try,  is  a  grand  elemosynary  institution — that  you  find  it  im- 
possible  to  prevent  mankind -from  going  farther,  and  carrying 
forward  this  assumption  to  its  logical  result  in  the  conflfequent 
belief,  that  all  Ministerial  support  is  from  first  to  last  mere? 
tender-hearted  bounty  which  may  he  witheld  without  sin, 
but  which,  when  bestowed,  entitles  the  besto  \  ers  to  the 
iiigh  praise  of  disinterested  benevolence.  With  this  deep- 
seated  impression  in  the  public,  mind  the  pulpit  itself  has 
been  compelled  to  maintain  a  constant  and  wasting  strug- 
gle;  a  struggle  which  is  destined  to  co.nti.nue  between  the 
pastor's  demand  for  an  adequate  support  while  exclusively- 
devoted  to  the  full  service  of  the  church,  and  the  people's 
resistance  to  this  demand,  until  the  day  when  it  shall 
come  to  be  distinctly  understood  that;  fr*ojii  the  very  out- 
r.et  of  the  minister^  career — from  tb.i  moVoent  when  ho 
first  puts  his  h,  md  to  the  plough  in  the  field  of "  prijpvra- 
Hon — he  is  a  claimant,  not  upon  the  church's  generosity, 
but  upon  her  justice;  not  upon  her  feeling  effpity,  b't 
upon  her  sense  of  duty.  Having  given  himself  to  her,  does 
he  bespqak  her  charity,  when,  with  all  .her  wealth  she 
could  not  repay  his  .service,  or,  with  ail  her  endowments,  do- 
without  it?  No,,  the  favored  party,  a«  along, — if  either 
may  be"  so  styled— is  not  he,  So  that  every  consideration  t; 
whether  of  gratitude  to  her  Lord  for  bestowing  the  young 
man  upon  her;  or  of  honesty  in  her  treatment  of  him  who 
has  cheerfully  acceded  to  this  disposition  of  his  person,  by 
which  he  chooses  her  service  in  preference  to  all  others, 
gives  force  to,  the  proposition  that  be,  is  entitled  to  her 
sympathies  not  only,  but  alao  to  the  utmost  liberality  of 
support  at  hep  hands,  as  well  while  taking  iSe  steps  that 
may  conduct  him  to  her  pulpit  as  during  the  whole  perioa) 
of  his  incumbency  therein.  The  strength  of  which  position 
will  further  appear,  when  you  reflect,  thftt,  although  God; 
ha?  imparted  to  the  church  the  indwelling  presence  of  the 
Ifoly  Gbo&t,  and  cheered  her  with  fr,he-  promise  of  glorious 


MINISTERIAL    EolCATiOX.  #  7 

triumphs,  over  ^very    opposing   kingdom;  yet,   in    order  to. 
give  her   a  formal  completeness  for   her  gigantic  work,  Tic- 
has    so   organized  her  as    to  secure  the  co-operation  of  tlio^ 
principle    of    seff-pctpetvation — a   principle'  which    oDvi<5us}y 
Jodges  with  her    the   elements  of  a  distinct  arid  solemn  re 
SrponsibfHfy  in  the  matter  of  providing,  through  her  Hcensfng 
and  ordaining  agency,  her  own  ministers  down  to  the  end  of 
time,     And  the  duty  to  provide  involves"the  duty  of  making 
provision  effective.  .   Effective,  however,  it  cannot  be,  unl 
those  enndidates  Jor  tl  e  sacred  office  whom  the  Master  has 
oal)ed  and  placed  in   the  ehuich's  J^and*-,  as  a  precious  fift, 
he  by   her   properly  trained  for   their  destined  work  ;  and, 
clearly,  this    indispensable  training  included  rtll  that  is    ■ 
meant  by*"  ministerial  education,"     She  has  no  right,  there- 
fore,   to    conipef;    or    evert  advice,   the  candidate  to  sup] 
himstf/—  much  less  to  treat  him  as  a  burden  fepon  her  chanty- 
in    the   even*  ^>f  his    declining  to  do  this.     The  obligation  is- 
all  her  own,  as   the  brrvnis  accrming  archers.     And  so  she, 
herself  acknowledges,    by    ordahilng    those    inexorable  b 
for   hir.   education —both  as*  to    its  nature  Mid  its  extent— rt 
departure  bom  which,  so  Far   from    being  option.-)!  with  I 
may   <iebar   biril  frorn  sftfcGoesi  to  he*  pil|  h         Thus  bim 
him  to  he-;  service  with   one  kaad,  oan  >i  c,  v.iib    the  other, 
'   repel   him   when  he  dwtnands'  ihe  no  sns  of  e;,g:igir.g    himseli" 
in  ifc  .'     This  would  he,  indeed,  requiring  khe  bricks  wt 
refusing  thv   stiaw.      B»f,    if  they   who    coniK   to    her   doors, 
seeking  entrance  into  her   nhrstiy.  i    tlaeir  frwnfls 

choose  for  t hem,  to  aiford  all  ueedlul  pecuniary  aid  to  help 
them  forward  t...the  period  of  tin-ir  erdination,  thii  is  arret hei 
matter.  Ti  j  church  nay  accept  tbia  asaietaact,  Hut,  in 
doing  so,  she  is  siinply  accepting  a  contribution  tp  her  trea- 
sury foe  which  »h&  ouglr,  to  be  grr.te.'i.l.  tibe  has  iTo 
thorily   to  th:narul  it. 

It   is, -truly,  no   wonderful  sacri$ca  for  a   young  mr 
make,  when  casting  wide  all  those  worldly,  prosptcts  which 
offer  tn  him  the  reward.-  of  ambition,  or  wealth,  or  ease,  in 
a  hundred  other  pursuits  of  life,  he    resolvae  to   devote  his 
energies  and  his  time  to  the  service  of  God  as   a  herald  of 
salvation  ;  and,  thtw   resolving,  seeks   to  prepare  himself,  at 
his  own  cost,  for  so  high  and  so  sacred  a  calling,     Doubt  I 
it  is  an  honor  unspeakable  to  be  selected  by  tie  Holy  Ghost 
to  be<a  messenger  of  grace  to  lost  men.     And  he  who  is  ti 
distinguished,  by   bem^  permitted  to  look  forward  to   unu- 
sual labors,  and  uncommon  sacrifices,  and,  perhaps,  to  pre- 
eminent  usefulness  in  the  cause  of  Christ,  may  well  afibrqi 
to  inaugurate  his  career,  by  easting  all  his  property,  as 


8  M1NISTEMAL      EDUCATION. 

■m 
does  all  Lis  talents,  into  the  effort  to  prove  worthy  of  so 
peculiar  a  distinction.  But  the  point  at  issue  does  not  lie 
Tiere.-  It  is,  not  what  the  candidate  may  esteem  as  I  is  privi- 
lege, but  what  the  church  must  regard  as  her  duty.  If  he  be 
in  the  condition  which  enables  him  to  enjoy  the  luxury  of 
ottering  to  the  church,  himself  not  only,  but  himself  pro- 
pared  for  his  ordination  vows,  let  him  esteem  it  no  hardship 
to  taste  the  honey  of  such  an  act  of  dedication.  But,  nev- 
ertheless, if  this  he  cannot  do— or,  if  this  he  feels  that  ho 
ougfet  not  to  do'— then,  must  the  church  take  him  up  from 
the  beginning,  conduct  him  into  her  schools,  and,,  by  every  ' 
means  in  her  power,  endcayor  to  make  him  a  workman  who 
will  never  "  need  to  be  ashamed." 

We  are  aware,  indeed,  that  however  you  may  dispose 
of  this  fundamental  position  in  a  discussion  of  the  subject 
of  beneficiary  education,— even  though  it  ma^  readily  be 
granted — yet,  objections  are  urged  to  the  existing  scheme 
adopted  by  the  wisdom  of  the  almost  unanimous  church, 
for  meeting  her  obligations  in  tfie  premises;  and,  on  the 
ground  of  these  objections,  the  plea  for  a  radical  change 
is  set  up,  with  a  degree  of  plausibility.  That  this  sys- 
tem is  free  from  difficulties,  no  one  will  pretend,,  That  it 
lias  been,  and  is  always  Jiable  to  be,  abused,  every  obser- 
ving and  reflecting  Christian  must  promptly  allow.  That 
the  old  "  Board  of  Education"  had  seen  some  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  the  whole  subject,  to  dangerous,  or, 
at  least  unwise,  extremes,  many  thoughtful  persons  have 
justly  believed.  But,  if  we  steadily  look  at  some  of  the 
'difficulties  of  continuing  this  system,  (in  its  new  organi- 
zation under  our  General  Assembly,)  which  have  been 
pointed  out,  — if  we  measure  their  true  magnitudes, — it 
will  be  seen  that  they  are  by  no  means  insuperable  in 
themselves,  or  fatal  to  the  plan  proposed;  but  that  they 
are  simply  those  inseparable  adjuncts  to  it  as  a  plau 
whose  working  has  necessarily  been  entrusted  to  the  im- 
perfections of  human  wisdom,  and  is  applied  tG  the  weak" 
ncss  of  human  subjects.  It  may  be  well,  however,  to 
glance  at  a  few  of  the  difficulties  which  are  said  to  iiesefc 
this  path  of  the  church's  usefulness, 

1.  The  objection,  often  urged,  that  a  promise  of%  sup? 
port  to  indigent  candidates  is  frought  with-  the  danger  of 
attracting  men  from  the  lower  orders  "of  society,  thereby 
threatening  the  pulpit  with  the  evils  of  rustic  coarseness 
on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the  other,  deterring  men  of 
commanding    sociaj    position    from    seeking   it — this  is 


MlNySTERIAL     EDUCATION.  0 

liarJly  deserving  of  serious  refutation.  Under  any  state 
of  things — seeing  that  "not  many  rich,  not  many  noble 
are  called" — it  must  be  the  case  that  comparatively  few 
in  affluent  circumstances  would  be  expected  to  enter  the 
ministerial  ranks.  To  the  poor,  and,  to  a  large  extent, 
by  the  poor,  was  the  gospel  ordained  to  be  preached.  But, 
notwithstanding  this,  it  is  believed  that  the  ministry  of 
our  church — composed  to  a  considerable  extent  of  those 
who  were  once  "  beneficiaries" — has  never  been  materi- 
ally damaged  by  any  lack  ©f  refinement  in  its  incum- 
bents*    At  any  rate,  God's  order  is  the  best. 

2.  A  more  formidable  objection  lies  against  a  tendency 
which  the  beneficiary  scheme  is  said  to  strengthen,  to  in- 
duce men  to  aspire  to  the  sacred  cilice  from  improper  mo- 
tives ;  for  its  high  social  position,  its  sources  of  personal 
influence  and  aggrandizement,  and  the  assurance  it  gives, 
in  most  cases,  of  a  respectable  living.  That  this  ten- 
dency has,  in  some  instances,  become  effect,  is  as  undeni- 
able as  lamentable.  But  it  is,  on  the  other  hand,  histori- 
cally trfce,  that  the  examples  of  genuine  piety,  whose  pre- 
vailing inducement  for  seeking  this  holy  service  has  been 
the  desire  to  promote  the  glory  of  God,  father  than  to 
aim  at  the  prizes  of  worldly  ambition,  or  of  mere  profes- 
sional emolument,  are  as  numerous  under  the  system  in 
question  as  could  be  hoped  for  under  any  plan  which  im- 
plies the  abandonment  of  this.  The  objection,  therefore, 
presses  only  upon  the  corruption  of  the  human  heart,  as 
tying  back  of  the  whole  matter,  viewed  in  whatever  as- 
pect it  may  present  itself. 

3.  A  third  drawback  is,  that  it  is  supposed  to  beget  a 
spirit  of  mcndiciti/j  instead  of  cultivating  that  of  personal 
thrift  and  manly  independence.  This  may  be  said  to  be 
practically  counteracted  by  the  fact  that  no  candidate 
has  ever  yet  been  supported  from  the  treasury  of  the 
church,  to  such  an  extent  as  to  remove  all  care  from  his 
mind  touching  his  daily  sustenance.  "We,  however,  be- 
lieve that,  as  a  general  thing,  our  candidates  have  not 
been  liberally  eno%h  sifpplied  with  pecuniary  help  ; 
and  that,  whenever  the  feeling  of  mendicity  has  humbled 
their  honest  pride,  this  has  been  due'  not  to  the  aids  they 
have  received,  but  to  the  6^?Y?7in  which  the  stinted  allow- 
ances have,  too  often,  been  extended.  Spirited"young  men 
have  been  made  to  experience  the  emotions  of  a  beggar, 
because  the  hand  which  doled  out  tq  them  their  pittance 
has  been  thai  of  a  lordly  benefactor.     But  let  this  notion 


10  MINISTERIAL      EDUCATION. 

be  once  removed  from  the  mind  of  the  church-w-let  it 
come  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  her  candidates  are 
not  her  debtors,  but  her  creditors — that  they  are  receiv- 
ing simply  what  is  their  due,  not  what  is  their  need  in 
distress — and,  in  no  case,  will  they  sink  beneath  the  con- 
sciousness of  shame,  but  will  hold  up  their  heads  in  the 
consciousness  of  unabashed  self-rospect.  The  same  re- 
sult, indeed,  might  be  reached  (it  is  contended)  by  driv- 
ing these  men  from  the  doors  of  the  church,  with  the 
haughty,  to  do  the  double  work  of  elevating  their  char- 
acters, and  providing  for  their  own  education,  by  employ- 
ing themselves  in  teaching,  or  some  other  useful  pnrsuit, 
or  by  stripping  themselves,  for  winning  in  the  arena  of 
scholarly  conflict,  those  bursaries  which  have  been  pro- 
vided for  the  ambitious  victors.  But,  to  say  nothing 
more  of  the  want  of  right  in  the  church  thus  to  treat  her 
future  ministers,  such  a  plan  is  surrounded  with  formida- 
ble impediments  on  the  ground  of  simple  expediency. 
Experience  demonstrates,  that  those  students  who,  in  or- 
der to  secure  a  livelihood  which  shall  maintain  them 
throughout  their  course  of  preparation  for  the  pastoral 
office,  devote  their  energies  to  teaching,  or  to  mechanical 
labor,  do,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  waste,  in  harassing  ef- 
forts to  procure  a  livelihood,  that  precious  time  which 
would  otherwise  be  far  more  profitably  employed  in  direct^ 
and  consecutive  study.  Thus  the  requisite  education  is 
delayed,  unless  they  meanwhile  study  privately ;  and,  if 
this  be  done,  their* training  is  fragmentary,  imperfect,  and* 
in  many  ways  damaging  to  their  future  influence.  Or,  if 
they  find,  as  has  too  often  been  the  case,  that  they  and 
theirs  can  be  more  easily  supported,  by  the  methods  they 
have  been  forced  to  adopt  by  a  parsimonious  church,  they 
by-and-by  resist  the  gradually  enfeebled  call  which  once 
had  stirred  their  souls,  and  fail  to  enter  the  ministry  at 
all.  And,  as  to  bursaries,  or  scholarships,  to  be  con- 
tended for  as  the  reward  of  talent,  these  do  not  exist  to 
any  extent;  and  if  they  did,  tfiey  i^ould  necessarily  be 
left  open  to  all  students,  religious  Dr  irreligious,  and  to 
those  seeking  the  several  professions  ajike.  By  means 
of  such  a  plan,  therefore,  if  brought  into  being,  we  might 
secure  a  talented  ministry,  but  it  would  bo  insignificantly 
limited  as  to  numbers.  And  besides,  God,  under  no  dis- 
pensation, has  called  only  those  of  high  intellectual  gifts 
■ — men  of  commandirg  genius — into  the  ministry  ;  while 
yet  there  has  been  a  place  for  every  one  who  was  divinely 


MINISTERIAL      EDUCATION,  71 

called,  where  he  might  be  useful,  whether  great  or  small 
in  the  order  of  his  native  abilities.  To  the_  reply,  how- 
ever, that  the  scholarships  in  question  might  easily  be- 
increased  in  number  by  the  use  of  those  monies  which 
are  now  expended  in  beneficiary  education  ;  and  might 
also  be  confined  in  their  destination  to  candidates  for  the 
ministry  ex-clusively, — the  obvious  and  the  crushing  re- 
joinder is,  that  thus  there. would  be  lodged  in  the  very 
bosom  of  the  church  a  source  of  evil,  from  whose  baleful 
presence  must_ne.<;essarily  issue  ambitions,  envies,  jeal- 
ousies, to  poison  the  fountain  of  ministerial  character? 
.and  jeopard  the  dearest  interests  of  Zion,  For,  in  the 
emulation  of  an  excited  conflict  foT  precedence,  the  con- 
testing candidates  would  experience  every  Influence  which 
fosters  pride  ;  and,  after  a  generation  or  two,  the  fatal 
effects  would  be  witnessed  in  the  disorders  of  a  torn 
church,  when  the  lewliness  of  Jobn  has  given  place  to 
the  vain-glory  of  Diotrephcs,  The  inexorable  law  of 
Chist  s  kingdom  is  humility.     -  , 

Still  other  abjections  to  the  present  scheme  of  bencfi. 
riary  education  exist,  and  are  urged,  But  it  would  not 
be  possible  to  di-cis;  them  all  in  a  document  like  this, 
which  can  serve  only  as  an  introduction  into  a  fieM 
which  is  capable  of  the  widest  exploration,  But,  we 
believe  that,  however  far.  such  exploration  might  be 
conducted,  at  "each  successive  step  the  friends  of  the 
existing  plan  would  ~find  ne-w  cause  for  admiring  the. 
wisdom  which  devised  it — for  applying  themselves  to 
the  effort  to  perfect  it, — and  (whilst  praisjng  the  Head 
of  the  Church-  for  the  eminency  of  its  past  success,) 
for  exerting  every  appliance  of  spiritual  foresight  to 
expand- its  usefulness.  We  can  see,  then,  no  cause  for 
alarm  in  the  proper  administration  of  this  plan,  in  any 
evil  influences  it  may  exert  upon  the*  beneficiary,  if  care 
be  taken  to  instruct  him  in  his  true  position  as  such; 
nor  in  any  wrong  it  can  do  the  church, if  care  be  taken 
to  place  her  upon  the  ground  of  unencumbered  and  ab- 
solute duty  in  the  premises, 

In  accordance  with  these  views,  the  General  Assem 
bly  unanimously  passed  the  following  resolutions: 

1.  Resolved,  Tlhat  in  the  judgement  of  this  Assembly, 
it  is  the  duty  of  the  church  to  pr*ay  unceasingljr  to  her 
He'ad  for  a  large  increase  of  candidates*  for  the  gospel 
ministry ; — and  when  they  are  received  at  His  hands, 
it  is  her  furthej*  duty  to  provide  them  with  a  suitable- 


12  MINISTERIAL     EDUCATION. 

education  in  the  way  of  preparing  them  for  their  work, 
and  to  provide  it,  not  as  a  matter  of  charityybwt  of  justice 
to  all  the  partus  concerned. 

2.  Resolved^  That  this  Assembly  can  discover  no  suf- 
ficient reason  for  superceding,  at  this  time,  the  organ- 
ization of  the  Executive  Committee  of  Education. 


RICHMOND,       va: 
PRESBYTERIAN    COMMITTEE   OF     PUBLICATION. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
pH8.5 


